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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 1:13:32 GMT -5
Well, from time to time I like to travel with my ferrets (drive a couple hours to my parents' house in the mountains) or even just take them with me to a friend's house for the day. I previously modded my Super Pet cage into a handy travel cage, which you might have seen here: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=cage&action=display&thread=1732 P1010245 by walkerstop, on Flickr (side bar - look how cute and tiny Fenton is in that pic  ) Well, since then, my ferrets have grown bigger, and I have a 3rd now, and he's a big boy! That corner litter box was just not going to cut it. I hate those things, and I also hate having to reach my arm through that dumb little cage door every time I want to do anything! Also, sometimes when we have family get-togethers, my nephew (who has 2 ferts and doesn't have a travel cage) asks me to let his 2 ferrets stay in the cage with mine. When I had 2, it wasn't TOO bad, 4 in the Super Pet cage was cramped but do-able. Well now that I have a 3rd ferret, that would be 5 ferrets in that cage, and that is JUST TOO CROWDED!  So I checked the measurements in my car, and realized that a wider cage would fit... So, after a quick trip to Wal-mart, Target, and the dollar store, here is the new travel cage, which just barely fits in my trunk!   P1010710 by walkerstop, on Flickr  P1010711 by walkerstop, on Flickr  P1010713 by walkerstop, on Flickr Now they can travel in style in their new home away from home Probably needs a couple toys to make it more homey though ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 2:16:43 GMT -5
Is that a piece of your FN taken apart, or a whole new 141??
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 2:26:23 GMT -5
Welll.....  Actually, it's the bottom floor of a new FN142 I got I figure since they aren't making them any more, and Petsmart had one on clearance for $159, I couldn't resist. Notice the top has the hole and ramp, and with the ramp up the case is securely closed. I may add a small caribiner or padlock for further security when using the cage in this configuration. What I plan to do is assemble the lower stand, and the upper cage, in a way such that it's easy to slide this level onto the stand, then slide the top level onto this one, and viola, an FN142! I may leave the stand and upper level at my parents' house in the mountains. Then I can use this cage whenever I go to friends' houses and such, and for longer stays at my parents' house, I can slap the 3 parts together into a full FN142 for the brats to have more room Yeah I know it's kind of overkill... but what can I say, the fuzzes are spoiled... |
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Post by Sherry on Aug 19, 2011 9:07:32 GMT -5
What a great idea, though! Spoiled, yes- but still a very good idea |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 12:18:56 GMT -5
oh my. What lucky fuzz! That is such a great idea, if you've got the room  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 13:15:25 GMT -5
Well it's funny, I realized this cage has about the same height and depth as my old travel cage, it's just wider is all. WELL that is perfect, because in the back of my car, there was just enough depth and height for the old travel cage to fit, but like another foot more width! I actually was kind of impulsive about it, I didn't measure the width of my car's cargo area, but once I got the cage's box out to my car, the box is the same width as the cage so I was able to tell it would JUST fit, with only an inch or two to spare width wise So yeah, the new cage takes advantage of that extra width I had available in the back of my car. The FN142 by my measurements is 1 inch deeper and 12 inches wider. That extra width really makes a difference in the available floor area: Super Pet: 576 square inches FN: 900 square inches So it's 56% bigger! That's about right... because I have 3 ferrets now instead of 2, meaning I have 50% more ferret 50% more ferret deserves at least 56% more space right?? Plus, I'm sure it's more than that, because the shelf is much more roomy than the Super Pet shelf. Not to mention, I can fit 2 hammocks and a suspended sleeping box in this cage, as well as a full-sized rectangular litterbox. Now that's fuzzy comfort, a home away from home |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 16:20:05 GMT -5
I was thinking of doing this when we go camping, taking the 3rd level of the fn for them to stay in. Is it heavy to carry mike?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 16:41:10 GMT -5
I was thinking of doing this when we go camping, taking the 3rd level of the fn for them to stay in. Is it heavy to carry mike? It's kind of heavy for 1 person to carry by themself, but IMO manageable. It would be no big deal if you had a 2nd person to help and had 1 person on each side. |
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Post by Heather on Aug 19, 2011 16:46:36 GMT -5
Nice job. I wish I had an extra cage that I could do that to....I would love to permanently set up a cage in my van so the guys could travel in style. It's not that they're cramped but your method is much better
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2011 9:31:23 GMT -5
That's really cool Mikey. At least now you have the peace of mind that they fuzz are in a STURDY travel cage. I'm considering getting a single level FN to keep at my folks' house for a visiting cage. Right now I have this guinea pig cage and it's just not big enough.
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Post by shilohismygirl on Aug 20, 2011 15:51:15 GMT -5
Great idea! my fuzz are green with travel cage envy. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 0:55:07 GMT -5
All right, I finished "project travel cage"! You've already seen my new FN travel cage, here is what I did with the rest of the cage. You know how normally with an FN142, only the bottom floor has a real floor, and the top floor has a real ceiling, and the "floor" between them has a hole for the ramp to pass between the floors using a ramp? Well, I wanted both the top and bottom cages to both be usable as individual, separate travel cage if necessary, but then have the option to combine them together when I want to, into a 2 story normal FN142. To do this, I took the bottom shelf from the cage stand, which is identical to the 1st floor cage floor. I then cut a square opening in it, just like the middle floor with a ramp has. Then I used this new floor as the floor to the upper cage, and used the ramp, attached above instead of below, as a "trap door", with a caribiner, to allow closing off this top cage. So now, the cage you have seen is the lower cage, which has a hole in the ceiling that can be closed off by lifting the ramp as usual and locking in place with a hook or caribiner, and the other cage is the top cage, with a hole in the FLOOR that can be closed by lowering the trapdoor ramp and locking it in place with a caribiner. The other thing I did was modify the metal square pieces that connect the bottom floor to the stand, and the top floor to the bottom floor. I cut them on their top side only, so that when the cage is screwed together, the square pieces on the bottom are bolted to the stand, but they can slide in and out of the bottom cage. Then the pieces on the top cage are cut on the top AND bottom, so that I can lift off the top cage, and then if I want I can also just lift out the metal pieces from on top of the bottom cage. If any of this is confusing, hopefully the pictures will make it all clear The point of all this is that the 2 cages can either stack to make a normal FN142, or unstack to become 2 secure usable separate travel cages, and this can be done in just a few seconds without any tools. Here are the pics of the cages, in their stacked FN142 configuration (you have seen the bottom cage in its separate configuration already): Cages closed off from each other = trapdoor down and ramp locked up:  P1010719 by walkerstop, on Flickr Passage between cages open by raising trapdoor and lowering ramp:  P1010720 by walkerstop, on Flickr New top cage fully dressed "el cheapo" style with pillowcases, kitchen rug, DIY litterbox and food box, and a towel for a hammock, plus a few toys to make it fun and discourage corner pooping (not that any of my kids have trouble with this any more):  P1010721 by walkerstop, on Flickr Ferrets testing the new cage out:  P1010726 by walkerstop, on Flickr |
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Post by Sherry on Aug 22, 2011 10:10:38 GMT -5
Fantastic idea Looks good, and you really get some variety in what you can do with them. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 10:32:46 GMT -5
This looks wonderful! I do this for my ferrets too, since Wolfie has to be fed and dosed with pred we have to take him almost every where when we leave the house, so, we just load him up and we're ready to go! You look like you have some happy ferrets |
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